Auguste bisson



ITED STATES AUGUSTE BISSON, or rams, FRANCE.

METHOD OF COLORING PHOTOGRAPHS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 296,913, dated April15, 1884.

Application filed January 15, 1884.

7 To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, Aneusrn BIssoN, a citizen of the Republic of France,residing at the city of Paris, in said Republic, have invented a new andImproved Method or-Process of Coloring Photographs and the Like, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention is equally applicable to all kinds of photographic andother images, among which may be particularly mentioned carbon orsilver-salt proofs or impressions; as well as those obtained by thephotoglyphic and phototypic processes, whether portraits, reproductionsof natural objects, or pictures.

My process consists, essentially, in printing in a particular manner,hereinafter described, the necessary colors, either directly upon eitherface of the pellicle of gelatine, which bears either a carbon proof or aphotographic proof,- or upon the proof obtained on a translucentbody-such as mica, vegetable leather paper, dioptric paper, transparentmineral paper, tracing-clothsubstances to which I may have tocommunicate a complete transparency by means of a treatment which I mayapply before or after the taking of the proof. This treatment consistssimply in immersing the paper or other substance of which it is desiredto complete the transparency in a bath composed as follows: Light orrectified benzine, one thousand parts, by weight; resin, one hundred andfifty parts, by weight; linseed-oil, ten parts, by weight. This mixtureis prepared in a few minutes by stirring the ingredients together in avessel immersed in hot water. The image being thus perfectlytransparent, either naturally or by the effect of the treatmenthereinabove mentioned, to which the paper or other body which bears itis subjected, I proceed with the coloring in the following manner: If,for example, the reproduction of a picture is required, I take aphotographic proof obtained by the silver-salt process, upon which Iapply, in as faithful a manner as possible, as tone, colorings, eitherin oil or water colors, in a manner to reproduce exactly the tints ofthe picture; but when a portrait only is required, a simple descriptiononly of the original may be sufficient to enable the tints to bereproduced. This colored transparent photographic copy of the picturehaving been obtained, I transfer or trace from (No specimens.)

it with a pencil onto any kind of paper the outline of the contour ofevery portion having the same tintthat is to say, for-example, a dozendifferent tracings or transfers, if the picture contains a dozendifferent tintseach tracing or transfer only bearing the contours ofthose parts which have the same color. These tracings or transfers maybe obtained by placing the copy above mentioned over the paper on whichthe outlines of the contours are to be produced, with an interposedpiece of transfer-paper, and tracing over the copy with a stylus orpoint. Eachof these tracings is then placed upon a very thin plate ofmetal, or upon a sheet of strong paper sufficiently opaque to interceptthe light in the operation which is to follow. Then the said paper ormetal has cut out from it very carefully the portions conforming to thesaid contours on the transfers or tracings placed upon it. Each sheet orplate so cut out is like a stencil-plate. These sheets or plates havingbeen prepared, I take as many lithographic stones, and in a dark placeor in a yellow light I prepare them with a coating of saturated solutionof bichromate in albumen or gum. Vhen these coatings are dry, I place oneach stone the opaque cut-out sheets or plates, and then expose them tothe light under a thick glass in such manner as to produce the perfectadhesion of the sheets. A. few minutes will suffice in this way toobtain on the stones complete impressions of the cutout parts of thesheets or plates. The plates or sheets and the coatings are then removedfrom the stones by soaking and washing. Each stoneis then marked in aconvenient manner to indicate its proper color. The stones being inkedin the ordinary manner, I commence by printing the shadows and followwith the other parts in any suitable order. If a portrait, for instance,I follow the shadows with the high lights, the figures of any parts ofthe dress, and finish with the flat tints of the flesh and of thecostume. The printing may be either upon the face or the back of thetransparent proof or print. The colors should be prepared in a manner toaccelerate the drying. The colored proofs are finally mounted and gluedto any base or support by the aid of varnish, dextrine, or any adhesivematerial, care being taken to submit them for several hours aftermounting to pressure. They maybe mounted on panels or bristol-board, andin the latter case may be satin-finished. For copies of oilpaintingsthey may be mounted on canvas, and to complete the illusion they may besubjected to heavy pressure with a woven fabric between their faces.Pictures thus treated and mounted may be placed in frames and varnishedlike oil-paintings.

What I claim as my invention is l. The treatment of the translucentbodies for the reception of photographic impressions, consisting insubjecting them to the action of a bath composed of benzine, resin, andlinseedoil, in or about in the proportions herein specified,substantially as herein described.

2. The improvement in the art of printing photographs in colors,consisting in first obtaining stencil-plates or sheets cut out in thecontours of the different colors, next applying said plates or sheets tolithographic stones coated with bichromate, then exposing the saidstones and plates or sheets together to the action of the light andpressure under a glass, then removing the sheets and coating from thestones and afterwardprinting from said stones in flat tints,substantially as herein described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing Witnesses.

Aueusrn BISSON.

